Advertisers Root for Joan Rivers’ New Show

When Joan Rivers gets the signal that she’s on the air Thursday night, late-night television advertising may never be quite the same again.

That might sound as brash as Joan Rivers’ jive, but when “The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers” premieres, the most interested audience may not be the pajama-clad viewers--but advertisers.

A rash of new late-night talk show contenders--including “David Brenner’s Nightlife” and ABC’s “Dick Cavett” and “Jimmy Breslin’s People”--have swamped the airwaves this fall.

But ad industry insiders say Rivers’ “Late Show” is the one show they will observe more closely than any other new late-night offering in years. After all, Rivers’ success would further divide late-night audiences and force the major networks to substantially lower their late-evening advertising rates.

“I can’t think of a single advertiser that isn’t rooting for this show to be a smashing success,” said Alan Gottesman, a highly regarded ad industry analyst at L. F. Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin, a New York securities firm.

Fox Broadcasting Co. has pushed hard to amass an all-star lineup of advertisers for the new show. “Late Show” is the centerpiece of efforts by Fox’s new owner, media baron Rupert Murdoch, to start a fourth network.

The push for advertisers began in May, when Rivers made personal appearances at splashy parties in New York and Chicago for a combined 400 “invited” advertisers. Since then, the show has signed up 14 major advertisers, including Bristol-Myers Co., Johnson & Johnson, American Motors and Toyota.

But it will take a lot more than Rivers’ rollicking one-liners to keep advertisers content. It will require solid ratings, and on that issue “the jury is still out,” said Peter Spengler, advertising vice president at Bristol-Myers, which will pitch everything from Windex to Ban deodorant on the show. Bristol-Myers was the first major advertiser to sign with Fox, when it inked a $1.5-million, one-year contract in July.

But what advertisers are hoping--and what they are doing--are two different stories.

Rivers is going head to head with the Goliath of evening chit-chat, Johnny Carson. Sponsors are less concerned with the tart-tongued Rivers’ brash comedy formula than with her ratings.

Fox, however, stumbled early on in trying to convince sponsors that Joan can give Johnny a run for the money. Indeed, “Late Show” initial ad rates were too high, admits John Lazarus, vice president of sales. And a cool reception by the ad community forced Fox to pinch an estimated $2,000 off its original rates, which are now down to about $12,000 for a 30-second spot. That is about half the estimated $25,000 that advertisers shell out for the same slot on NBC’s “Tonight Show.”

But so concerned is the “Tonight Show” with “Late Show” that executives there refuse to even comment on the competition. “We simply don’t discuss these things,” said a spokesman.

Kingpin Carson, however, still has plenty of fans. After 22 years, Alpo ranks as the “Tonight Show’s” longest-running sponsor. “The live advertising the ‘Tonight Show’ does for us is priceless,” said John Goodchild, president of Weightman Advertising of Philadelphia, Alpo’s ad agency. He said Alpo would “consider” the Rivers show but would “never” drop Carson.

American Motors, however, has never advertised on late-night television--until now. It has signed a $750,000 contract with “Late Show” because of its low ad rates and the young audience expected to watch the show, said David Kerr, AMC’s vice president of advertising.

And Toyota, a big “Tonight Show” advertiser, has also signed a one-year contract with Fox. “Rivers will deliver a very attractive audience,” said George Borst. “We’re especially interested in reaching the working women who will be watching the show.”

Borst knows the advantages of getting in on the ground floor with a new network. Eight years ago, Toyota was a charter advertiser with Ted Turner’s Cable News Network. The move not only assured Toyota of very good ad rates but also a soft spot in Turner’s heart, Borst said.

“To this day, Ted drives a Toyota,” Borst said, “although I’m not expecting Joan to.”

Shuns Computers

Apple Computer has decided that people who buy computers don’t really want to see them.

At least, not on TV advertising. So, in its four new Macintosh computer ads, viewers will see plenty of heart-warming human drama but no product. At least that’s the format that Apple unveiled Monday at a splashy showing to gaggles of reporters clustered inside the plush Grand Ballroom of New York’s Plaza hotel.

The media event marked the premiere advertising efforts of Apple’s new ad agency, Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn--a division of newly formed Omnicom Inc., which Apple picked up in May when it dumped its former agency, Chiat/Day.

“We’ve avoided making the product the hero in most of our television advertising,” said Bruce Mowery, Apple’s advertising manager. “Instead, we’re focusing on people.”

About 10 new Apple TV spots have been filmed, the first of which will premiere Oct. 18--on the first game of the World Series. Ads will include the tag line, “The power to be your best.”

New Rubik Puzzler

Suppose you’re Erno Rubik and you had to follow your own act.

If you’re puzzled by the familiar ring of the name, he’s the multimillionaire who contrived the Rubik’s Cube. Now, he’s concocted Rubik’s Cube’s first cousin--Rubik’s Magic.

The set of hard-to-link plastic rings is Rubik’s first new magic gadget since the Master Puzzler’s surname became crossword puzzle fodder about six years ago.

This week, Matchbox International Ltd.--which makes the puzzle--will unveil a TV advertising blitz. The spot campaign, devised by Sawdon & Bess of New York, will break in 10 key markets.

The 30-second commercials feature Erno Rubik himself giving Rubik’s puzzle lessons to an unlikely array of characters, from World Wrestling Champion “Macho Man” Randy Savage to Abraham Lincoln. None of them, however, is able to solve the puzzle.

“The purpose of the campaign,” said Mike Temares, senior vice president at Sawdon & Bess, “is to give the impression that everyone is trying it.”

Chaser for Cookies

Gourmet chocolate-chip cookie addicts may have long thirsted for the answer to this question: What to wash down Mrs. Fields’ cookies with?

Well, Mrs. Fields finally has an answer--and she’s about to begin advertising it today. In the company’s first-ever ad campaign, Mrs. Fields will begin touting two natural chocolate sodas--Macadamia Nut/Chocolate Chip and Diet Chocolate Chip. A six pack retails for $2.69 to $3.29.

Has Mrs. Fields gone too far afield?

She doesn’t think so. “Customers always ask us what we have to drink with the cookies,” said Debbi Fields, the cookie queen. So, she has tossed her spatula into the multimillion-dollar chocolate-in-a-can arena to battle such competitors as Canfield’s and Famous Amos.

In the radio spots, devised by Gurvin Conrad & Gurvin of San Francisco, Debbi tells the world: “Come take a drink. We know what you’ll think.”